Local News
Israeli hockey player Guy Rozin continues to improve his game playing in Canada
By BERNIE BELLAN
Elsewhere on this website you can read where I reported on the success that 17-year-old Michael Akbashev has had in the world of competitive judo (https://jewishpostandnews.ca/features/3111-two-years-ago-he-was-youth-ambassador-for-shalom-square-now-he-s-one-of-the-top-judokas-in-his-age-category-in-all-of-canada.)
Since I had written about Michael last year, it wasn’t all that difficult for me to remember what I had written.
But, when I decided to take a look at another young Israeli-born athlete whose story had been told in our paper, I was surprised to see that I, myself, had written the first story about Guy Rozin – three years ago to be exact, when Guy was 13 and when Guy and his family had just moved to Winnipeg from Israel – all so that Guy could further his hockey playing career.
You see, when I thought of writing about Guy again my first thought was that it was Scott Taylor who had written about Guy for our paper – last year. Then, when I reread Scott’s article, I was surprised to read that Scott was actually following up an article I had written.
In any event, when I contacted Guy on February 11, it was actually the first time I had spoken with him. Previously my contact was through Guy’s parents, Roie and Pnina. Back in 2017 Guy’s English would not have been good enough for me to interview him, and although he’s a typical teenager in that his answers were short – not the sort of long winded answers I’m more used to when interviewing older subjects, he still showed the same self-confidence that both Scott Taylor and I had noted when writing about him previously.
Just to recap – here’s a brief summary how Guy came to be playing hockey in Winnipeg: It was Abe Anhang who played a crucial role in bringing the Rozin family to Winnipeg.
In my 2017 article Abe explained his connection to the Rozin family: “My oldest friend from Winnipeg, Dr. Donald Silverberg (son of the late Jack Silverberg, who was a math teacher at St. Johns and ultimately the principal of JWC) lives in Netanyah. Dr. Donald Silverberg has a son, Monte, who is a lawyer in Israel and Monte Silverberg had a friend (and client) by the name of Roie Rozin. “Pnina (Roie’s wife) and Roie have always been sports people (Roie used to play professional soccer) and their kids are good at various sports – his daughter at gymnastics, their other son at tennis and their son Guy turned out to be an exceptional hockey player
“When I found out that Guy (at age 12) had been the European MVP (most valuable player) for two years in a row (in an in-line hockey tournament), it sort of got my attention. Then, wanting to see whether he could make it in Canada competitively, I suggested that Roie and Guy come to a hockey school, so they came for the summer of 2014. He did well there, so I introduced them and they met with the people at Federation who were extremely helpful! As a result, the Rozins applied for Permanent Residence under the Nominee Program (Pnina is a registered nurse, which was in demand then). They moved here in July of 2016 and got their landing card in January 2017. “Barbara (Anhang) and I sort of adopted them. Their 3 children are at the Gray Academy and have settled very well.”
Guy’s father, Roie, filled in some more of the details about the family’s decision to move to Winnipeg so that then 13-year-old Guy could play hockey here.
I asked Roie what exactly led to the family’s making such a momentous decision – to pack up and leave behind a good life in Israel and make the move to Winnipeg. He explained that it started three years ago, when Guy was participating in an in-line hockey tournament in Europe (one of several European tournaments in which the then 11-year-old Guy had already participated). A coach from another team remarked to Roie that Guy showed exceptional promise as a hockey player. That coach said Guy “has something in his head – he’s very smart, and very fast, and I need to do something with him,” that coach suggested. “Two years ago he started to play ice hockey in Israel. We have only two rinks in Israel,” Roie noted. Roie said, “Everybody who saw him (Guy) said ‘he’s a great player, you must do something’, so we decided to move to Canada – that’s the big reason – to play hockey.” One more note about that story – when Guy arrived here with his family in 2017 he was only 5’ tall, but – he was very fast, something his then-coach, Jeff Sveinson, noted when he remarked: “He’s very small, but he’s very skilled.”
Fast forward to 2019 when I asked Scott Taylor to do a follow-up story about Guy’s progress.
Scott wrote: “I thought it might be hard finding a team and having a place to play, but it wasn’t,” said Guy. “I felt I was good enough.” Guy arrived in Winnipeg and hit the ice flying. He was first taken under the wing of Monarchs’ City Minor Bantam AAA coach Jeff Sveinson and then City Bantams AAA head coach John Fehr. He has now won three straight AAA championships with the Monarchs – Minor Bantam, Bantam and Midget. Last month, he helped the AAA Midget Monarchs beat the Sharks to win the 2019 title. Despite breaking his wrist early in the season, he was a force down the stretch and in the playoffs. He finished the regular season with six goals and 15 points in 16 games. To top off his season, Rozin flew to Bulgaria to help Israel finish 3-1-1 and in second place at the IIHF U-18 Division III World Championship. He scored the winning goal 40 seconds into overtime in a 4-3 win over New Zealand and also scored the eventual winning goal in a big 5-2 win over Mexico. He finished the tournament with three goals and an assist in five games.
Scott also noted that “Guy’s immediate goal is to make the Provincial Midget AAA Wild next season. If not, he’d be fine playing another season with the Monarchs.”
Oh – and one more point: By last year Guy had grown to 5’ 4” – and was still growing.
So, when I caught up with Guy recently, my first question to him was: “How tall are you now?”
“Five six” was the answer. That’s two inches in one year – still not enough to be able to make it a cinch for Guy to move up the ladder of competitive hockey, but at least he’s trending in the right direction.
And – following up on Scott’s observation that Guy was hoping to make the AAA under 17 Wild – he did.
Here’s something else that we had written about in a past issue of the JP&N and which I wanted to ask Guy: “There were three other Israeli boys who had come here to play hockey last summer. Are they all still here?”
“No,” was Guy’s answer. “Only one of them is” – a kid by the name of Ido Shteinberg, who is also 17. Ido is also playing with the Wild, Guy says, and while he’s here he’s living with the Rozin family.
Like last year though – when Guy broke his pinky, had surgery, and missed a good part of the season, this year also saw Guy miss quite a few games due to a broken thumb injury.
“I’ve played only 25 games,” he says, yet he has still scored 11 goals and has had six assists, “and we have four more games in the regular season.”
A Grade 11 student at Gray Academy, Guy is now hoping to make the jump to Junior Hockey. He’ll be attending tryout camps with a number of different teams, he says.
Guy’s greatest asset – as it has been since he first took up roller hockey at a young age in Israel, has always been his speed.
“Are you the fastest player on your team?” I asked him.
“Yup,” was the answer.
So, it came as no surprise that his favourite NHL player is Connor McDavid, who has incredible speed.
“Are you as fast as him?” I asked facetiously.
“No – not even close,” came Guy’s reply.
“You must be faster than at least some of the Jets,” I observed – at least some of those pylons they call defensemen.
“If you don’t make it in Junior, are you still going to be staying in Canada?” I asked him.
“Maybe,” came the answer. “I have no idea. I don’t have any other plans.”
“How are you doing in school?” I asked.
“I’m doing pretty well,” Guy responded.
I told Guy that I recently nominated him for Jewish Athlete of the Year. (I also nominated Michael Akbashev, by the way, since there’s no limit as to how many individuals one person can nominate. It used to be easier to think of names to nominate when Harvey Rosen was writing for us, then Scott Taylor picked up the slack for a while – and will be back with a new column quite soon. However, I sure miss Harvey’s style of writing – especially his use of the phrase “athletes of the Jewish persuasion”.)
At that point in the interview Guy offered something interesting, that came in response to a question I asked whether he had any recent pictures or videos that he might be able to share.
“I have some pictures and videos from Korea,” came Guy’s answer.
“Korea?” I asked.
“Yes, I was there for the world under-20 championships,” he explained. Then I remembered something Scott Taylor had noted in his article last year, when he wrote about Guy’s playing for the Israeli under-20 team in Sophia, Bulgaria last year. Scott mentioned that Israel was being promoted to Division IIB from Division III as a result of its finishing first in Division III in last year’s tournament.
I asked Guy which other teams were in Israel’s division?
He answered: “South Korea, China, Netherlands, and Croatia.” (He forgot about Belgium, which was also in Israel’s division, I found out later.)
“How did you do?” I asked.
“We lost every game,” Guy answered – without hesitation. (Hey, get this kid a tutor in how to answer a reporter’s questions. He should have said: “We gave 100% effort but were just not able to find the net the way we should have.”)
“How did you do personally?” I then asked. “Did you score any goals?”
“Yah, I scored two goals,” came Guy’s reply. “We scored only three goals in total.” (And poor Israel had 50 goals scored against.)
“Oh,” I said (trying to hide the disappointment in my voice). “How many games did you play?”
“Five games”, Guy answered.
“Well, at least it was a learning experience,” I suggested.
I wondered whether the Israel team had any non-Israeli players. I noted that in the World Baseball Championship Israel is allowed to use players from anywhere in the world so long as they’re Jewish.
But, Guy explained, in the world Under-20 hockey tournamenth, also in the regular adult tournament, a player must have lived in the country for which he’s playing for at least two years.
While Guy’s hope is to make it to Junior A hockey next year, if not, he’s content to keep playing under-18 AAA for the Wild – if he can make the team. But, as Scott Taylor noted last year, Guy’s hope was to move up from the Bantam level to the Midget level this past year – which he did, so it would come as no surprise if he took the next step in his progression to Junior – which would be a world away from playing roller hockey in Israel only four short years ago.
Local News
A local vocal extravaganza
By Dr. RAY SINGER I just experienced a revelatory weekend of superb vocal music, about which I wanted to share.
First, on attending Shaarey Zedek for Shabbat morning services I was pleasantly amazed at what was transpiring: Marlaina Sommer was beautifully singing her way through her own Bat Mitzvah service. Having married into a famous local musical family, I was not surprised also to hear her daughter and son-in-law, Sarah Sommer and Justin Odwak, sing – with their ethereal voices flowing over the congregants. Spouse and father Hillel provided percussion.
That was just for starters. My wife and I then attended the first concert in the Asper Jazz Series to hear the New York Voices in their Grand Finale concert tour, Winnipeg being the only Canadian stop on their tour.
Singing as a quartet for 38 years, their jazz singing was superb – with intricate harmonies, scat solos and amazing jazz vocals in the style of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. They displayed exquisite control, and also interacted well with the audience.
Our final vocal musical experience was most revelatory and meaningful. This event was held on Sunday in the Laudamus theatre on the C.M. U. campus
It was organized by the Women’s Music Club of Winnipeg. Little did I know that club has been bringing in musicians of world stature for 130 years. If not for the kindness of our neighbours, Professors Harry and Mary Lynn Duckworth, we would not have known of this concert, entitled: “In a Dark Blue Night.” The title was written in both English and Yiddish in the program notes.
The music was performed by two wondrous musicians: Isabelle David, pianist and Sara Schabas, solo soprano. They performed a song cycle by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated, N.Y.C.-based Jewish composer Alex Weiser.
The first half of the concert consisted of Leiders by Viennese composers of the early to mid-20th century, all of whom were Jewish or in relationships with other Jewish composers. The composers included: Arnold Schoenberg, Alma Mahler, Erich Korngold, and others. Sara’s rendering of their songs and poems set to music was transcendent and emotive.
The narrator of theevent, Nolan Kehler, himself a musician and music radio host, was excellent in detailing the Zeitgeist around those Viennese composers and how they had to flee Vienna in the late ’30s. At least two were murdered in the Holocaust.
The second half of the concert was even more amazing. Alex Weiser composed music to accompany selected poems written by Jewish immigrants to New York early in the 20th century. Sara, having sung most of the songs in the first half in German, and one in English, then sang those poems beautifully – this time in Yiddish. Then, as a finale she sang a Gershwin medley. To add icing to this note-worthy cake, the pianist played the most challenging dramatic part of “Rhapsody in Blue,” knocking it out of the park
Thus, in one weekend I heard a Sarah and a Sara, and am grateful for our musical riches, especially brought to Winnipeg by both the Mennonite and Jewish communities. I am no music reviewer, but can appreciate the talent and artistry displayed by both Isabelle’s David and by Sara Schabas And, great news: Sara, who is from Montreal has landed a job teaching in the Desautels Faculty of Music. Hopefully many more of us will get a chance to hear her.
Local News
Jewish Foundation Endowment Book Of Life program Sunday, November 1st
By BERNIE BELLAN The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba first launched its Endowment Book of Life legacy programme in 1998.
This charitable initiative allows donors to promise a future bequest to the foundation in exchange for having their personal history, family experiences, and philanthropic values permanently inscribed in a physical and digital archive.
On Sunday morning, November 1, the Jewish Foundation held its most recent Endowment Book of Life event followed by a brunch at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. There were five new entries into the Book of Life, from: Brownie Fleishman – in memory of her parents, Beryl and Esther Pierce; Marilyn Goldberg – in memory of her husband, Dr. Norman Goldberg; Melissa Rice – in memory of her husband, Richard Rice; Sharon Wolchock, in memory of her husband, Sid Wolchock; and Anna and Lyle Silverman.
The signers were introduced by Jewish Foundation CEO John Diamond, who, in addressing the signers, said: “Your stories, your generosity, and your commitment to the future of our community will continue to inspire others for generations to come. Thank you for making this meaningful commitment.”
Diamond read excerpts from what the signers had written in the Book of Life or described what had led some of them to be motivated to want to be part of the Book of Life.
From Brownie Fleishman’s inscription about her parents, Beryl and Esther Pierce, Diamond read: “The story of the Pierce family began in Winnipeg in the early 20th century, when Beryl and Esther Pierce came to Canada to establish a new life for themselves and their children.
“Beryl Benjamin Pierce was born in 1883 in Poltova, then part of the Russian Empire, and now Ukraine. He immigrated to Canada in 1912 and settled in Winnipeg, where he became a pioneer in the fur industry. A skilled designer and cutter, he established Pierce Fur Company in the Exchange District. The building that housed that business was later designated a municipal historic building.”
From Marilyn Goldberg’s inscription about her late husband, Norman: “Norman had a deep connection to Judaism and to the Jewish community. He attended synagogue regularly and served on the boards of both the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek synagogues. He was a leader in the efforts to change the Shaarey Zedek cemetery rules to allow interfaith couples to be buried together. His commitment to Tikun Olam extended to reaching out to the larger world. He helped lead the community’s efforts to settle refugees from Darfur.
“Our children characterized his faith this way: ‘His was a Judaism that was not orthodox in practice, but deeply rooted in Jewish values, tradition, and faith. This led him to good deeds, good words, a good life.’ “
From Melissa Rice’s inscription about her late husband, Richard: “Richard was immensely proud of his Jewish faith and heritage. He celebrated his bar mitzvah, participated in Kadima and AZA, and formed friendships that would last a lifetime.
“His close friend circle included and many who shared countless adventures, misadventures, and laughs over the years. Their friendships endured because Richard understood something important. Relationships require time, loyalty, and commitment.”
John Diamond spoke about Anna and Lyle Silverman’s long commitment to the Jewish community: “Both Anna and Lyle have always been strong philanthropic supporters of the local Jewish community, of Israel, and of Holocaust education.
“A commitment that was reinforced a few years ago after they had participated in an emotionally draining and unforgettable March of the Living trip that took them to the gates of Auschwitz. Their ongoing support of the Jewish community is also inspired by Anna’s memory of the tremendous help that her family received from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society when they landed in Montreal as refugees. Their story goes on to say they have been lucky in love and in business, and now as they continue to enjoy a long, comfortable, and well deserved retirement, they are eager to share their good fortune with others. ‘We have a wonderful life and couldn’t ask for anything more,’ Lyle says, ‘so now it is time to give back.’
“Through hard work, a commitment to education, and a strong connection to their Jewish community, they built a family whose succeeding generations continue to benefit from the opportunities they created.”
Diamond said this about Sharon Wolchock’s inscription about her late husband, Sid: “Sid was Sharon’s biggest supporter. Her volunteer work with the National Council of Jewish Women and the Jewish Federation mattered as much to him as his own legal career, and he backed it fully. He wanted Sharon and their daughters rooted in the Jewish community in whatever way suited each of them. In 1983, on Sid and Sharon’s first trip to Israel, Sid’s lifelong connection with the Jewish state was born.
“Sid’s love of aviation and history and his pride in being a Jew emerged during that trip. He became a passionate supporter of Israel’s soldiers and donated club rooms on two Air Force bases named for his brothers Harvey and Bernie so that the hardworking and often underappreciated technical crews had somewhere pleasant to relax.”
Following the ceremonial signing ceremony, guests in attendance were treated to entertainment by a quartet of talented singers: Julia Kroft, Josh Bellan, Alyssa Crockett, and Vinnie Alberto.
Closing out the day’s programme, current Jewish Foundation Board Chair Dafna Shore paid tribute to this year’s signers – and to the more than 800 signers of the Book of Life who had preceded them:
Shore said: “What makes this program so extraordinary and why it continues to resonate with so many people is the opportunity it gives us to share the stories that shape who we are, stories that might not otherwise have been told.
“Through the Endowment Book of Life, these stories are given a permanent home. Together, they form a living history of Jewish life in Manitoba, one filled with resilience, compassion, humor, and hope. These stories are more than a record of the past. They offer lessons for the future, showing generations to come, what it means to belong, to give, and to take responsibility for the strength of our community. Thank you for adding your voice and your vision.
“To this collection and for making a legacy commitment to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, your generation helps ensure that the programs, schools, and organizations that sustain Jewish life here will continue to thrive for generations to come.
“One of the great privileges of serving as chair is helping advance the Foundation’s mission, securing our community’s future while supporting its growth today. The Endowment Book of Life embodies that mission beautifully. It reminds us that each of us in our own way has the power to make a lasting difference.
“As we reflect on the importance of leaving a lasting legacy, I’d also like to take a moment to remember two valued members of the Jewish Foundation and Manitoba family who we lost this past year, Sheldon Berney and Lillian Neaman.
“Both served as governors of the Foundation, demonstrating their commitment to our community through their leadership and service. We are grateful for their contributions and the role they played in helping strengthen the foundation. Their memories remind us that a lasting legacy is built through the generosity, dedication, and commitment of those that came before us. May their memories be a blessing.
“As long as members of our community continue to invest in tomorrow, through their generosity, their readership, and their willingness to share their stories, Jewish life in Manitoba will continue to flourish. Thank you all for being part of that story.”
Local News
Application filed by two former members of Etz Chayim Congregation against the congregation to have their memberships restored dismissed by judge
The following is taken from the Canadian Jewish News website: “Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench has dismissed Hadass Eviatar and David Hoult’s application challenging the termination of their membership at Congregation Etz Chayim. In his decision, Justice Vic Toews noted that, although Hoult’s letter describing a hypothetical attack on the synagogue may have lacked sensitivity given the political climate, he did not intend to threaten violence against congregants. However, the judge ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction to intervene in the membership dispute under Manitoba’s Corporations Act, finding that the couple had no financial, proprietary or economic interest that would entitle them to the remedies they sought. The judge concluded that religious organizations are generally free to determine their own membership rules and ordered each side to bear its own legal costs.”
If you would like to read the original article that broke the story about the battle between Hadaass Eviatar and David Hoult with Etz Chayim Congregation you can go to Epic Court Battle.”
